The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS) imposed on Booking.com for abusing its dominant position in the market via MFN clauses.
FAS Russia determined that at Booking.com B.V. abused its dominant position in the Russian market for the provision of services by aggregators of information about accommodation facilities (hotel aggregators). The company imposed on hotels and hostels the terms of an agreement on the need to provide and comply with the parity of prices and rooms, as well as the terms of interaction with closed user groups. This meant that hotels could not price their services in other sales channels lower than on the Booking.com.
As a result, the Authority found that such actions restrict competition in the market and lead to infringement of the interests of hotels and fined the undertaking for 1.3 billion RUB.
(FAS- 30.08.2021)
NAZALI TAX & LEGAL